Cristie Kerr drained two birdies in her first six holes en route to a two-under 70 to grab a share of the lead after the third round of the Kia Classic on Saturday.
Lizette Salas is the coleader with fellow American Kerr after posting a three-under 69 to reach 10-under 206 in the LPGA Tour event at the Park Hyatt Aviara Golf Club in Carlsbad, California. Salas is seeking her first win on the American Tour.
“I have been hitting it pretty fine. I am an adrenaline player; once I get it going, I get confident,” said veteran Kerr, who is aiming for her 17th US title.
Photo: AFP
Second-round leader Dori Carter stumbled to a two-over 74 to drop to eight under. She was joined in third place by Japan’s Ayako Uehara (67), Feng Shanshan of China (69) and Swede Anna Nordqvist (67).
Stacy Lewis bogeyed three of the last five holes en route to shooting one-over 73. Lewis fell into a tie for seventh at seven-under 209, where she stands alongside Ji Eun-hee (65), Lexi Thompson (70) and Chella Choi (70).
Kerr opened with four straight pars before dropping in back-to-back birdie chances at five and six to get within one of the lead.
She two-putted for birdie on the 10th, then stumbled to a bogey at 11.
After four pars in a row, Kerr birdied the 16th to move two clear of Salas and Lewis.
Her third shot to the par-five 17th ran over the green and she failed to get up and down for par.
Kerr pushed her approach shot from the middle of the fairway into the water right of the green at the final hole. She took a drop on the fringe and drained a long par-saving putt from there to finish at 10-under.
“I was thinking, get it close and just move on and have a new day tomorrow, and it went in,” Kerr said. “I hit some kind of bad putts on the back nine, but that made up for it.”
Salas converted her birdie chance to join Lewis and Kerr in the lead at the par-three 14th. Salas gave that shot back at the 15th before making birdie on No. 17 for the colead.
“I felt like I left some putts out there, but I’m still hitting great shots and giving myself opportunities for birdie,” Salas said. “Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day. We’ll just see what happens. You know, another round in the 60s is a good thing, but I still feel like I left some putts out there. You’ve just got to shake it off.”
Tied for 32nd, Taiwan’s Yani Tseng shot 72 for 214 total.
Additional reporting by staff writer
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB